'Inept and damaging': Barnaby Joyce hits out at Malcolm Turnbull's criticism of affair

A besieged Barnaby Joyce has hit back at Malcolm Turnbull after the prime minister on Thursday publicly criticised his deputy telling reporters he was "appalled" by his affair with an ex-staffer .

Joyce, who again apologised for the breakdown of his marriage and relationship with former staffer Vikki Campion, on Friday labelled Turnbull's comments as "inept", "unnecessary" and "damaging", and defied calls to step down.

"Comments by the Prime Minister yesterday at his press conference, with regards to that, I have to say that, in many instances, they caused further harm," he told reporters in Canberra on Friday morning.

He went onto accuse Turnbull of pulling "the scab off for everybody to have a look at".

Mr Turnbull on Thursday announced Mr Joyce was taking a week's leave and would not be acting prime minister when the prime minister visits the US next week, after making "a shocking error of judgement" by having an affair with a former staffer.

"Barnaby (Joyce) made a shocking error of judgement in having an affair with a young woman working in his office. In doing so, he has set off a world of woe for those women and appalled all of us."

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But Mr Joyce said the new ministerial code of conduct announced by Mr Turnbull will create "immense fodder" for the media.

"It is the prime minister's code, we will support it, and we will do our best endeavours to see it through," Mr Joyce said.

"It goes without saying that this will create immense fodder for the good people in the media and it will obviously reverberate across all political parties."

Mr Turnbull earlier told reporters in Tasmania he had not spoken with Mr Joyce today, nor had he asked for his deputy's resignation.